IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 
127 
These birds have a loud cry which sounds like "wok! wok!" 
They are very shy when in their native woods, and one needs to be 
very quiet to get near them at all. They have a curious habit of 
collecting together in great numbers on one large tree, and flying 
about from branch to branch, having a sort of a dance among them- 
selves. The natives who hunt them, seek out such a gathering 
place, and putting up a sort of a roof of leaves and branches, they 
hide behind it, in some convenient fork of the tree, and wait for 
the dance to begin. They are provided with bow and arrows. The 
arrows are not sharp, but have a round flat end, so that the bird 
is killed by the blow, and no blood gets on his feathers. 
When the birds have commenced their play, the hunter shoots 
one after another, and a boy on the ground picks them up as they 
fall. The other birds do not notice the falling of their friends, and 
often a hunter will get several beautiful birds in one morning. 
To prepare them for market, the native cuts off the wings and 
feet, skins the body, and runs a stick through the skin. The whole 
is wrapped in a palm leaf and dried. They are often very clean 
and nice, but the practice of cutting off their wings and legs is 
what gave rise to the absurd stories about the bird. 
These birds, when alive, have 
• sometimes sold for as much as two or 
three hundred dollars apiece, and they 
have lived in London sometimes as 
long as two years. • 
This is another of the family, 
called the Superb Bird of Paradise, 
and if you could see him with that 
elegant tuft of feathers now lying on 
his back, raised behind his head like 
another magnificent pair of wings, 
and the beautiful tufts which hang 
down, as though he had on an apron 
— with their wonderful glossy green 
color — you would admit that his name 
is very suitable. 
His general color is the deepest, 
richest violet, almost black, tinged 
with green. This bird, not being so readily sold as the Emerald, 
is not much hunted, and its habits not so well known. 
